Scooter14

No way, not toxic. There’s a big difference between launching three crews in their circadian nadir “just because” on an exercise line due to poor staff planning and supporting combat ops with what I will assume is a good jet and a rested crew carrying enough gas to get to your alternate. Shoot the approach, land or go around, divert if you have to, come back tomorrow. I’ve come back from training lines here on the coast and dealt with that type of wx. Wx happens, forecasts are wrong, etc. Sometimes you come home and it’s not what you expected. Ask my kid about his second solo when Mother Nature decided to kick it up a notch and throw a 15 kt crosswind at him right after takeoff. It happens. That’s just one pilot’s opinion though. It is a slippery slope. Clearly the SEFE who didn’t feel comfortable flying in 300 and 3/4 didn’t feel that way.

That is a very valid point. That’s not “MAF standard” but there is a lot to be said for that.

Hoss I get what you’re saying. However, as I know you know, command is a mindset. In my experience a rated aviator who is willing to look at multiple perspectives and educate themselves on all the crew positions under their charge as well as take care of airmen and safely execute the mission will be successful...regardless of the wings on their chest. Ive coached youth hockey for 20 years now. I’ve seen fantastic lifelong hockey players fall on their face behind the bench. I’ve seen complete ankle benders who are new to the game win championships as coaches. How do the benders win championships? They surround themselves with smart people, they study the game, they play to their strengths and they solicit the advice of others when they know they have a gap in their knowledge and they earn the respect of their players. While a CSO or ABM will never hold an A code, any one of them worth their salt SHOULD have the experience and perspective after years of flying the line in their given airframe as an instructor in their crew position to effectively lead a squadron. Now, when we take a shiny penny, fluff and buff them, make them an exec and then ship them off to every non-flying school and special duty assignment known to man, or in the MAF ship them from airframe to airframe to “broaden” them, one may never gain that perspective or experience within their community to fully understand the cultures and challenges. Maybe it turns some of them into that coach who played hockey all his life and won’t take inputs from others because he thinks he’s that good. I dunno. My rambling $0.02 I guess.

Were they tougher to fly or did we not train the crews well enough? Some of the same KC-135s I flew were probably flown by friends of your ancestors. My point or my rebuttal to your post is that, just because Grandpa flew the original T-6 and was just fine, there were probably a lot of others that weren’t and we lost a lot of aircraft back then. Were they less safe? Maybe. Were we pumping out pilots at a breakneck pace to keep up with a Cold War threat? Yes. Was the training adequate? Maybe. Were the planes “harder to fly” back then or are they easier to fly now? I don’t know. I flew with a crew in a C-130H1 last month. So that level of technology still exists in 2021. Evolution of training...I’m all for it. I’m glad we don’t do fix to fixes anymore. But, we can’t get ahead of ourselves and I think we are still in the data collection phase.

How many aircraft did we lose back then? What were the accident rates? I’ll wait...

Air Force FLIGHT STANDARDS Agency Deputy CC...how ironic seeing that the OPR for 11-202v3 is AFFSA/XOF Can anyone say “out of touch?”

He was probably the only one that hung around long enough and I’m sure he had someone somewhere pulling for him. It’s like “the Rat 2.0” for those who remember that guy.

I’m trying to find his official bio online. I’m willing to bet he spent the majority of his career checking boxes as an exec and going towards schools vs. being in an ops squadron hacking the mission.

Thanks CH47! What is this MFR called? I’ll try to Google it and get it to those guys.

In my tenure I’ve seen the UPT starting age go from 27 to 30 to maybe 33? What is the latest gouge? Is 33 the limit? Are waivers likely or unlikely? My unit is accepting packages right now and they just want to make sure they aren’t turning away qualified candidates.

FWIW I met quite a few IMAs at the last “training event” at Osan. It seems like there are quite a few opportunities to augment AOCs and then get days for the various exercises throughout the year. I’m not sure what the expectation is, but some of the folks I talked to pretty much show up for every exercise.

Well, since the sim instructors at Altus all flew the A model, the young guys hear about it. All. The. Time. How many Altus KC-135 sim Instructors does it take to change a lightbulb? Five One to change it and four to tell you “how we did it in back in the A model.”

That has been my non scientific observation with the folks I know who have been vaccinated. Those who had Covid prior got their asses kicked by the first shot. Those who did not have Covid had more difficulty with shot #2. I mean, I’m not a doctor but I did stay in a Turumi Inn last night.

Some of that is host nation but yeah. I had both vaccines and nobody cared due to host nation restrictions. I’m deploying this fall and I definitely do not want to have another 14 day ROM. If we (the DoD) have control of it then we need to update and ease the restrictions IRT ROM. That will incentivize more troops than some silly AFN “do your part” commercial.

Do both. Apply now and also schedule yourself to retake them.

I don’t know but this illustrates an excellent reason to just go Guard/Reserve and forgo the AD rated board shenanigans.

100%. It’s all clickbait and it’s maddening. They throw around words like “mutation” and “highly transmissible” in the headline but when you read it, as CH illustrated, it’s all just hollow bullshit. It drives me insane. Well, back to the end of day 5 of my 14 day ROM...

She realized the dream of every federal employee I know. Good for her.

I don’t want to derail the thread but...Wow. That’s messed up.

No leave enroute authorized. I’m hoping with two vaccines and a 14 day quarantine I’ll be able to get out a little bit. It is what it is.

It’ll be my first time there, I’m really looking forward to day 15 when I can leave the quarantine dorm and actually do stuff.

Question for those in the know. I just my hands on an OCP Massif jacket with “aircrew” style Velcro installed (not the name strips). I’m going TDY to Osan for a month. Is it legal with the green bag?

Wow Bergman, that was many moons ago, but yeah I remember that. Guy Neddo, Sluggo Wilken was the guy I flew with a bunch and I also got to sim with him at Vance years later. The Billygoats, that old condemned building we were in, meticulously plotting hundreds of little red towers out of the Chart Update Manual and then accidentally spilling bleach on said towers and watching them disappear...good times. Easily the most fun phase of nav school back then. Way more fun than wandering around the western US at FL270.